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Tremonti

Cauterize

Written by: MAK on 17/06/2015 19:47:27

Known for his masterful hooks and melodies in rock heavy hitters Alter Bridge and Creed, Mark Tremonti uses his side project, simply known as Tremonti, to unveil his talents that some people might consider too heavy for “Alter Bridge”, though this concept seems surprising considering how heavy the riffs are in the Alter Bridge classic “Metalingus”. Three years after Tremonti’s debut album, “All I Was” returns with a pure powerhouse of a release in “Cauterize”, this time with the addition of Wolfgang Van Halen, son of rock legend Eddie Van Halen, recording bass for the band.

“Cauterize” kicks off with crushing riffs from the off in “Radical Change”, accompanied by a vocal style that seems somewhat influenced by Mark Tremonti’s Alter Bridge colleague Myles Kennedy, even if Tremonti does sound a tad huskier. This opening track sets a nice tone, mixing some sheer brutal guitaring in the verses with melodic choruses and a mind-melting guitar solo to boot, that indicates Tremonti as a band are upping their game. Follow-up track “Flying Monkeys” takes more of a slow burner approach, and while still staying heavy with some very meaty guitar chords, the first two songs set a rather sombre atmosphere to the album. Just as you start to think you have figured the album out, title track “Cauterize” is rather uplifting in comparison, delivering a higher tempo and a rather anthemic chorus.

“Cauterize” as an album is far from guilty of sticking to one paradigm, as the variety of pure heavy metal bangers and slow burners takes the listener on a ride of ups and downs throughout. What stays the same for the majority of the album is that Tremonti delivers some of the heaviest grooves in his career. Just listening to the first few seconds of tracks like “Tie The Noose” and “Another Heart”, you can’t help but nod your head to the very deep riffs, then be mesmerised at how each song turns from being a heavy metal track into a something of rock anthem.

While this is clearly a stand-alone project for Mark Tremonti to express himself even more than he does in Alter Bridge, you can’t help feeling that a lot of these songs were originally meant for use in the other band. It is almost too easy to imagine Myles Kennedy fronting these songs. Nevertheless, no matter what the original intentions of these songs are, Tremonti have released something of a masterpiece with "Cauterize" and a lot of that is down to the frontman’s talent for creating ear pricking grooves, and melodies to get absolutely lost into.

Download: Another Heart, Cauterize, Radical Change
For The Fans Of: Creed, Alter Bridge, Soil, Black Stone Cherry
Listen: facebook.com/MarkTremonti

Release date 09.06.2015
FRET12